Minnesota wind-turbine sales from embattled company halted

A state court judge has granted a temporary restraining order at the request of the Minnesota attorney general's office to halt the sale of new wind turbines from Renewable Energy SD, an Excelsior wind energy developer.

Hennepin County District Judge Mary Steenson DuFresne issued the order late Wednesday, Attorney General spokesman Ben Wogsland said Thursday, Feb. 21.

As a result, a hearing on the attorney general's request, scheduled for Thursday afternoon, has been canceled, Wogsland said.

The attorney general's office sued Renewable Energy SD in January, charging the company bilked 15 farm couples out of hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece by selling them wind turbines that either didn't work or never were delivered.

DuFresne ordered the company to provide the attorney general's office with a list of all its customers from 2009 to the present.

Renewable Energy SD still can work on existing contracts with customers, provided it does not ask them to pay more money to the company, the order said.